In 1658, Cromwell tried another Parliament, but dissolved
it because it wrangled without resolution.
After Cromwell died, the people demanded the return of a genuine
and free Parliament. The old constitution was restored and a new
House of Commons was elected. It called Charles II to return to be
king if he promised religious freedom and backpay to the army,
which had not recently been paid. When Cromwell's Puritan soldiers
were disbanded, they did not drift into thievery as royalists
soldiers had before, but took up honest work such as baker, mason,
brewer, baker, or haberdasher. Puritanism now made itself felt not
by the sword, but in literature and politics. It affected the
character of the English, who tend to be stoics, and imbued
capitalists with a hard-working attitude.
- The Law -
After the civil wars, the law against enclosure was not enforced.
What was passed in Parliament in Cromwell's time were called
statutes, but after Cromwell's time, these statutes were not
recognized as legitimate.
"whereas Public Sports do not well agree with Public Calamities,
not Public Stage-plays with the Seasons of Humiliation, this being
an Exercise of sad and pious Solemnity, and the other being
Spectacles of Pleasure, too commonly expressing lascivious Mirth
and Levity ... Public Stage Plays shall cease, and be forborne
instead of which are recommended to the People of this Land the
profitable and seasonable considerations of Repentance,
Reconciliation, and Peace with God, .
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